Oil spill off Orange County not expected to spread to San Diego waters
The National Weather Service said Sunday that a large oil spill that is soiling the coast from Newport Beach to Huntington Beach in Orange County is not likely to spread to San Diego County waters.
“The wind is blowing from the west — and somewhat from the southwest — which should keep (the oil) there,” said Brandt Maxwell, a weather service forecaster. “The wind could shift and come out of the northwest on Sunday night and Monday, but it will be light.”
Forecasters added at 4 p.m. Sunday that the winds were unusually light off Orange and San Diego counties, ranging from 4 mph at Huntington Beach to zero at the San Clemente Pier to 4 mph at San Diego International Airport.
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday that a broken pipeline connected to an offshore oil platform known as Elly caused the weekend spill, which is estimated at about 130,000 gallons. The spill has killed some fish and birds.
The sea surface currents at the oil platform were moving to the southeast on Sunday afternoon, but they were only traveling at 0.4 knots, according to Eric Terrell, a researcher at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. That further suggests that the oil won’t rapidly move down the coast.
An initial report about the accident from the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday said the spill was located 3 miles off Newport Beach, and covered 13 square miles.
Huntington Beach, which is heavily dependent on coastal tourism, has closed its beaches. Newport has asked the public to stay out of the water.
Some of the oil from the new spill has darkened the sand in Newport and Huntington, and environmental officials were concerned Sunday that the crude to get inside the delicate Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in northern Orange County.
The 1990 spill affected about 15 miles of the county’s coastline and killed an estimated 3,400 birds. That spill extended from the Seal Beach-Long Beach area south Laguna Beach. (map)
The crew, which includes a UC San Diego graduate, was 260 miles high at the time
Updates
4:26 p.m. Oct. 3, 2021: Story updated at 4 p.m. to note that the winds and currents at the site of the oil spill are moving very, very slowly, including that the spill won’t travel far south.
12:54 p.m. Oct. 3, 2021: Story update with new data
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